The Pursuit of Happiness

The topic on today's agenda is something I've wanted to write about for a while. I think I'll keep it short and sweet because there really isn't much to say.

I think as human beings, we sometimes overcomplicate the most simple of things, and then complain about how complex our lives are. (The irony!) Taking away these complexities, and the differences between us all, I believe that no matter where you're from, regardless of your race, skin colour, gender, class, and so on, one universal aspect of human existence, is that we all want to be 'happy'.

Happiness is something we seem to crave, something we pursue, and something we strive for.

When we enter a new relationship, get a new job, or move to another part of the country, we often ask ourselves 'Am I really happy?' 

And of course, though it is something that unites us, happiness differs for each and every individual. What makes me happy, may make somebody else extremely unhappy! And vice versa. It's a subjective experience.

Nevertheless, recently I've found myself coming to the realisation, that myself, and many others, strive for happiness as if it's a destination. A destination that once we reach, is a state we will remain in forever.

And that's where we stumble and fall.

The beauty of life is its unpredictability. And while at any given moment you may feel sad, in despair, and hopeless, the fact that this could change in an instant, (since pain is only temporary), is pretty darn amazing!

I'm sorry to do this, but I'm going to quote a well known pop song. The lyric 'you only know you've been high when you're feeling low', exemplifies how we can only truly appreciate the happy times we have in our lives, by going through some of the worst times of all.

So to everyone out there who's having a bad day, remember that happiness is something only YOU can achieve for YOURSELF. 

Don't continue making the mistake of waiting for happiness to arrive in your life, as if one day we'll wake up and it will have finally made a grand appearance, shouting 'I'm here!'

Unfortunately, that's just not how life works. So revel in the unpredictability and the uncertainty of life, in the days where you feel like things couldn't possibly get any worse, and you feel lower than ever, because at least that way, there is only one way to go. 

:) x

Quotation, Quotation, Quotation.

If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you've probably noticed that I do quite like the odd quote here and there!

Who am I kidding? I love them. 

There's just something about reading or hearing something that sums up what every fibre of your being is feeling in that given moment.
Or something that you've felt or always known, that you couldn't quite find the words to express.

I think quotes are a reminder as to how similar we all are. How universal certain themes are, that they can transcend time, gender, class, race, religion, just to name a few.

So today I will share with you just a FEW of my MANY favourite quotes, from some of my favourite poets, authors, films and TV Shows. (Brace yourselves and enjoy.)


‘I have measured out my life with coffee spoons’ – The Love-Song of Prufrock, T.S. Elliot.

''Tis better to have loved and lost/Than never to have loved at all.' - Tennyson, In Memoriam.

‘Than the two hearts beating each to each!’ – Meeting at Night, Robert Browning.

'Love is not love/Which alters when it alteration finds' - Sonnet 116, Shakespeare.

'All the worlds a stage. And all the men and women merely players' - As you like it, Shakespeare.


'So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past' - The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

‘We live as we dream. Alone.’ – Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad.

‘I suspect that the truth is we are all waiting, all of us, against insurmountable odds for something extraordinary to happen to us.’ –And the Mountains Echoed, Khaled Hosseini.

‘I have a theory that every time you make an important choice, the part of you left behind continues the other life you could have had.’ – Oranges are not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson.

'To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.’ - Life of Pi, Yann Martel.

‘I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams.’  - The Shawshank Redemption.

‘Don't ever let somebody tell you, you can't do something. You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want something, go get it. Period.’ – The Pursuit of Happyness.

'Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.' - Mark Twain.

‘I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass.’ - Maya Angelou.

‘I hated every minute of training, but I said, don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’ – Muhammad Ali.

'Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.' – Tchaikovsky.

‘If you don’t build your dream, someone will hire you to help build theirs.’ – Tony Gaskins.

‘Make a wish and place it in your heart. Anything you want. Everything you want.
Do you have it? Good. Now believe it can come true. You never know where the next miracle is going to come from, the next smile. The next wish come true.
But if you believe that it is right around the corner, and you open your heart and mind to the possibility of it, to the certainty of it, you just might get the thing you're wishing for.
The world is full of magic. You just have to believe in it. So make your wish. Do you have it?
Good. Now believe in it with all your heart.’ – One Tree Hill.

‘It’s the oldest story in the world. One day you’re seventeen and planning for someday. And then quietly and without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And that someday is yesterday. And this is your life.’ – One Tree Hill.

What's your favourite quote?

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” ― Allen Saunders

If you're anything like me, you make plans. I have countless notebooks full of to do lists, a jam packed diary, and constant thoughts circulating my mind.

For as long as I can remember, I've been a 'planner', not one to take risks or be spontaneous, (I mean I couldn't possibly do something if it wasn't a part of my schedule haha), and this has always worked for me. I've often been told by friends, to 'just go with the flow', but this has never been quite my style.

From plans to achieve certain grades, to plans about having done certain things by the time I reach a certain age, I've planned it all! But what happens when things don't go to plan? In fact, what happens, when what actually occurs, is the complete opposite of what you'd planned for? Sometimes this can leave us feeling crushed, disappointed and lost. 

But more often than not, whatever it is that hasn't gone to plan or turned out in your favour, whether it's missing your flight or as big as breaking off your engagement, it is in fact, exactly what you needed.

I'm a firm believer in the idea that everything happens for a reason, and sometimes your plans 'failing', can actually open your eyes to other opportunities that you hadn't even acknowledged.

Say for example, you've wanted a certain job for as long as you can remember, and this is what you've prepared for your whole life. Now for some reason or other, let's imagine you don't get this job, and that career path is no longer an option for you. Instead of having a breakdown and feeling like it's the end of the world, sometimes you just need to step back, analyse the situation, and open your eyes to the countless alternative paths available to you. The ones you hadn't planned for, but that's okay.

I've definitely come to learn that you don't need to have every minute detail of your life planned out, and that it's okay when things go wrong. Whether you believe in God, fate, science, or even nothing, know that whatever is meant to be will be. Of course you should go out there and chase your dreams, but when you stumble along the way, remember that maybe, just maybe, that fall was actually the best thing that could've happened to you (and prepare yourself for bigger and better things to come!)

There's nothing wrong with planning, and I for one won't be stopping any time soon! But it's important to remember a few key things:

- Don't lose sight of what's important.
- Don't take the present for granted while you're planning for the future.
& Finally,
- Have realistic and achievable goals & expectations, but nevertheless, dream big!

:-) x

The Veil - Freedom? or Oppression?

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you'll no doubt have heard, seen, or read something or other about the Niqab or the veil.

Now when I first heard that this was something that was being discussed in parliament, I couldn't help but laugh. I honestly thought it had to be a joke. My first thought was seriously? Surely this country has bigger problems. Surely our government have more important things to tackle, instead of debating about the way a certain group of people should or shouldn't dress.

Having said that, I can completely understand why certain members of the public might be unnerved by women who choose to wear the veil. If it's something you don't know a lot about, or something you've never come across, it can seem somewhat 'alien' and even perhaps frightening.

However, if you take the time out to look into what the veil is and the reason that some Muslim women choose to wear it, the last thing it is, is frightening. In fact, all this news coverage and debate is doing the complete opposite of what the veil aims to do, it is drawing unnecessary attention to these women, who are trying to mind their own business and go about their daily lives.

A lot of the arguments about why the veil should be banned, link back to the story about a Muslim woman who allegedly refused to lift her veil in court. Whether this is or isn't true, I definitely understand that the face veil has to be lifted in court, in front of a jury for it to be a fair trial. 

What baffles me however, is that I know several women who wear the Niqab and have done for years, and I know that if they were ever to find themselves in a similar situation, they would have no problem at all lifting their veil. The same applies at airports, or any other situation where it is necessary for whatever reason, for someone to confirm their identity. Therefore, for this one isolated incident to spark a debate about potentially banning the veil, is to me, quite ludicrous.

Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of women in this country do not wear the veil because they have been forced to wear it by an oppressive, tyrannous male family member. In fact, they feel empowered by this piece of clothing. The idea that they are choosing what can and cannot be seen by other people is for them, freedom. Therefore, the people that think they are liberating these women by dictating to them how to dress (oh the irony), are in fact doing the exact opposite of what they are condemning, and are in fact taking on the role of the oppressors. 

I can't discuss the topic of the veil, without making mention of Rachid Nekkaz, a businessman who has paid 699 Niqab fines since the ban was implemented in France. (Faith in humanity restored!)

Finally, I'll leave you with this video that makes for quite an interesting watch:

:-) x

Don't worry.. Be Happy..

After having a quick look at my previous blog posts, it has come to my attention that I blog about a lot of negative things! Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in everything that is wrong with the world, and to overlook the amazing blessings that surround us day in day out. So below, are a few things I've come across recently that have definitely put a smile on my face.

Remember, hate will only breed more hate.

Besides, 'Beneath the armor of skin/and/bone/and/mind most of our colors are amazingly the same.' - Aberjhani

Fairy tales do exist!

Surely this is enough to make anyone smile!

'The soul is healed by being with children.'

- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

:-) x

Cut out knife crime.

'Boy, 15, stabbed over Facebook fight'

The words you never want to read. The words that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The words that send shivers down your spine. 15 years old, with his entire life ahead of him. The saddest part is, he isn't the first, and he will not be the last.

These types of headlines in the news have become all too common in recent years, and we must ask why?

Why is this even happening in our society?

Why do 15 year old children, sometimes younger, feel the need to carry a knife?

Why are these incidents forgotten a week or two after they occur?

Why? 

Why?

Why?

I 100% agree with the fact that the people who did this, and commit these sorts of crimes daily around the globe, need to be caught and punished accordingly. However, I can't help but feel that if a little more time, a little more effort, a little more care, went into finding out the motives behind the crime, and educating our children on the consequences, we might slowly, very slowly, begin the very long journey towards cutting out knife crime.

As I grapple with my thoughts on this topic, somewhere across the country may be a child (because that is what they are, children), who is angry, confused and lost. Who unfortunately, feels the need to carry a weapon, whether it's a gun or a knife or something else. For what? Protection? Self defence? Who knows? And if, or should I say when, the situation arises where they feel the 'need' to use this weapon, we will once again be reading those harsh cruel words:

'Boy, 15, stabbed over Facebook fight'

Hollie McNish is an up and coming poet from the UK. Her videos never cease to inspire and amaze me, and this one video in particular I decided to share because it was relevant to today's topic, so please take out a few minutes to listen to her thought-provoking poetry.

:-) x

Friday Favourites!

Another Friday has come and gone! The weeks just seem to be flying by. This week I apologise, as my favourites are a few days late. Nevertheless, enjoy!

Favourite Smile:

Everyone needs a best friend because, 'a life is an awful, ugly place to not have a best friend.' - Sarah Dessen, Someone Like You.

Favourite Place:

Airkix is SO much fun! Try out indoor skydiving at one of their three locations for an exhilarating and adrenaline filled experience! I recently went there for a friends birthday and will definitely be visiting again soon.

Favourite Scene:

Sometimes it is so nice, to take a few minutes out of our busy schedules and just appreciate the beauty around us.

Have another great week!

:-) x